1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to display devices, and, more particularly, to a backlight assembly for a liquid crystal display device and a method of manufacturing a light guide plate of the backlight assembly.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a backlight unit for a liquid crystal display serves as an illumination device to uniformly provide light to a liquid crystal display panel of the liquid crystal display. The liquid crystal display panel controls the amount of the light from the backlight assembly to display images.
The liquid crystal display is not a self-emissive device, which is different from other display devices such as cathode ray tubes (CRT), plasma display panels (PDP), field emission displays (FED), or the like, so that the liquid crystal display can become difficult to use under dark conditions in which no light exists. However, since the backlight unit can provide the liquid crystal display panel with light, the liquid crystal display can be used under dark conditions.
The backlight unit typically includes a light source that emits light, a light guide plate that guides the light to the liquid crystal display panel from the light source, a reflection sheet that reflects light leaked from the light guide plate, and an optical sheet that diffuses and condenses the light from the light guiding plate.
Recently, light emitting diodes have been widely used in liquid crystal displays instead of cold cathode fluorescent lamps given the need for slimness and lightness of the typical liquid crystal display. However, a light emitting diode serves as merely a point light source, so that the irradiation range of the light emitting diode is narrower than that of the cold cathode fluorescent lamp.
As a result, in the light incident region of the light guide plate, a brightness difference occurs between the area proximal to the light emitting diodes, i.e., a bright area, and the area between the light emitting diodes, i.e., a dark area, that is generally referred to as a “hot spot”. Typically, the image quality of the liquid crystal display deteriorates as a result of the hot spot.
Further, when various additional parts, such as diffusion sheets, brightness enhancement film, and the like, are used in an attempt to improve the image quality deteriorated by hot spots, the thickness and the manufacturing cost of the liquid crystal display increases.